Postings of news stories and analysis of interest to working people by 9AM Central, Monday-Friday

Monday, September 17, 2012

September 17 Week In Review

Week In Review

September 17, 2012

by Bill Onasch

I delayed the WIR until today awaiting the outcome of the Chicago Teachers House of Delegates first
look at an outline of a possible agreement that could end their strike. But, as a glance at today’s News
Update on the Labor Advocate Blog demonstrates, there were also lots of other labor and environmental
stories breaking over the weekend. I’ll touch on a few of them. Meanwhile, our efforts to get our
updates on the kclabor.org site once again continue while this WIR appears on our Blog, is sent out to
our Yahoo mailing list, and is usually cross-posted by our friends at Labor Standard.

Off the Job Education

It’s not easy keep up with a strike in progress in the limitations of a weekly column. By the time this
WIR is uploaded there may already be dramatic new developments. Over the years I have had some
personal experience in contract negotiations that have sometimes led to strikes. Like war, truth is often
an early victim in such struggles as both boss propaganda and rumors from various sources, pernicious
or naive, gnaw away at early striker enthusiasm. If neglected, this inevitable challenge can lead to
everything going sideways fast.

In my opinion, the Chicago teachers’ strike is proving to be the most important and inspiring major
walk-out since the 1997 UPS strike victory. I say this not just because of the scale of the action, and the
precedent it may set for other teacher contract battles. The most impressive thing about the strike so far
is the way the leadership prepared the members who elected them well in advance and have, with needed
tactical flexibility, stuck to a sound strategy.

Many cheered while others recoiled in shock when CTU president Karen Lewis referred to Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a “liar and bully.” This veritable description of the foul-mouthed schmuck
who seeks to sterilize the CTU the same way he gleefully did with the UAW during Obama’s “rescue”
of the auto industry, could be supplemented with even more colorful language if this were not a family
friendly column.

But the CTU leadership has stressed to their members and the public that this is not a personal duel with
the Mayor. They have well documented that he is only the ugly face of a ruling class that dominates the
unelected Board of Education and that is pursuing the Obama administration’s national policy of
privatization of huge chunks of public education, smashing or co-opting teacher unions along the way.
The CTU understands better than most unions how their local struggle fits in to the bigger national
picture of defending the interests of working class school kids, their parents, and their teachers.

The CTU leaders revived the strategy of a strike at a time when much of the union bureaucracy argues
that strikes can no longer be won. The teachers did not shrink from taking this action that is clearly a
major embarrassment for labor’s Democrat “friends” and a “diversion” of union activists away from
phone calls and door-knocking leading up to the November election.

Some important unions, such as National Nurses United, SEIU janitors, and Chicago Transit Authority
ATU locals, have shown genuine solidarity with the teachers. So has Rev Jesse Jackson and other
community allies. Early polls showed many more supporting the strikers than the Mayor.

Like nurses and transit workers, teachers recognize their strike causes inconvenience, sometimes even
hardship, for those they are dedicated to serve. They don’t withhold their labor lightly. They are eager
to get back to teaching, anxious to alleviate the disruptions in student and parent lives resulting from
the shut-down. They have done a good job in answering the lies and distortions in the boss-controlled
media and have shown good faith in finding a negotiated settlement that preserves public education,
improves teaching conditions, and maintains collective bargaining rights for their union.

At the same time, they have made clear that union democracy is paramount in all of their decisions. It’s
not easy to facilitate a democratic discussion and vote among 28,000 well educated and articulate
members. There had been some early hope that the 800-member House of Delegates, representing each
school in the system, might approve an outline of a tentative agreement reached by negotiators and that
teachers could return to work while they discussed and voted on the final language. But the building
representatives felt rushed and were not comfortable with making a decision without consulting those
on the picket lines.

As this is written, the tempo of union process may lead to a decision by tomorrow, Tuesday. However,
a new complication has arisen with the Mayor bellowing he will go to court to have the strike declared
“illegal.” Obviously that would be a major escalation of the battle but their first attempt to find a
friendly judge failed.

As is my custom, I will not parse what is known of the tentative agreement. There will be plenty of
opportunity for outsiders to draw a balance sheet when the battle is done. While class war rages, those
of us in the auxiliary have the duty to assure those on the front lines, “we’ve got your six [back]”

And Elsewhere...

CAW Down to the Wire. Contracts between the Detroit Big Three and the Canadian Auto Workers
expire at 11:59 tonight. The CAW had offered a lower starting wage rate and longer progression to top
pay but the bosses were not impressed. The employers want the same two-tier wage structure the UAW
gave them. They as well want to also replace defined benefit pensions with the Canadian version of
401(k); eliminate Cost of Living Adjustment; end Thirty-and Out Retirement; and chisel away on other
benefits and work rules–also all accepted by the UAW. Late last week the CAW was talking about
striking all three companies at once for the first time. As I write, it appears the talks are focusing on Ford
as a “target.”

Iberian Austerity. Workers throughout the neighboring countries of Portugal and Spain engaged in
massive protests last week against government “austerity” programs imposed by European and
international bankers. By far the biggest was in Barcelona, capital of the Catalan nation within the
Spanish state, where the official police estimate was 1.5 million. Tens of thousands marched in Lisbon
and Madrid. Among their demands was a referendum on the draconian cuts in the public sector
accompanied by increased regressive taxes shouldered mainly by workers and the unemployed.

Teamsters Deliver But Bakers Balk at Hostess. Hostess Brands is what’s left of the once mighty
Interstate Bakeries best known for Wonder Bread, Twinkies, and Hostess cupcakes. Now privately held
in their second bankruptcy, the company demanded huge concessions from their unions under threat of
liquidation. Teamsters leaders managed to squeeze a 53 percent majority to approve the latest round
of give-backs. But those who bake the iconic brands, 5,000 members of the Bakery, Confectionery,
Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union, have had their fill of giving to corporate wreckers and
decisively rejected the deal. The company’s future remains in the hands of the bankruptcy court.

Badger Bar Bites Walker. A Dade County (Madison) Wisconsin judge has ruled big chunks of
Governor Walker’s hotly contested anti-public worker legislation unconstitutional. An earlier legal
challenge based on untimely approval by the legislature was denied by the state Supreme Court. This
one was based on violating union members’ freedom of speech and association, as well as the equal
protection of the law, by subjecting union workers to penalties not imposed on nonunion public
employees. The decision doesn’t affect those directly employed by the state but does cover city, county
and school district workers. The Governor, who denounced the jurist as a “liberal activist judge,” is, of
course, appealing the decision.

Don’t Be A Twit. Regular readers know I am not a big fan of “social media.” One of my many reasons
is that unthinking intemperate remarks so often made in such formats can come back to haunt you. Last
Friday, Twitter complied with a court order to hand over three months worth of messages sent by an
Occupy activist charged with disorderly conduct in relation to a protest on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Blowing Hot and Cold. As previously reported here, there was a record loss of Arctic sea ice, as a
result of global warming, this season–an area equivalent to the size of Texas. Scientists have noted a
trend of record ice melts being followed by exceptionally severe cold winters in Europe and they expect
the same to happen this year.

About the Blogger

Retiree member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1287. Active member National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981. Webmaster of kclabor.org since March, 2000. Former Vice-President of ATU 1287. In Minneapolis during Seventies-Eighties held several posts in UE Local 1139 including Local President and Shop Chairman at Litton Microwave. Charter member of Labor Party Advocates. Founding member of US Labor Against the War.